This family of multipurpose MIX-enabled port adapters comprises three membersthe PA-MCX-2TE1, PA-MCX-4TE1, and PA-MCX-8TE1. These port adapters come with built-in channel service units/data service units (CSUs/DSUs), and they offer the same feature set, differing only in the number of physical interfaces supported.

The MIX-enabled T1/E1 port adapters provide the ability to integrate voice and data on the same T1/E1 interface without the need for an external time-division multiplexing (TDM) device. With the "drop and insert" capability, DS0-level grooming is supported, thus providing cost-effective WAN access. Ports can be configured as voice, data, or both, depending on the application requirements. Powerful management capabilities are provided with the Cisco Voice Manager 2.0 Web-based user interface for provisioning, configuration, and monitoring functions.

The MIX-enabled T1/E1 port adapter enhances the multiservice solutions enabled by the enhanced digital voice adapters available on the Cisco 7200 VXR series of routers. By using the TDM capabilities of the Cisco 7200 VXR, the MIX-enabled T1/E1 port adapter can maximize the use of digital-signal-processor (DSP) resources on the enhanced digital voice adapters. The MIX-enabled T1/E1 port adapter enables the use of the DSP resource pool on the enhanced digital voice adapters for high- and medium-complexity coder/decoder (codec) voice calls. The concept of sharing the DSP resources across the TDM bus on the Cisco 7200 VXR platform is called DSP farming. With the DSP farm capability, a total of 20 T1s or 18 E1s of voice can be terminated on a Cisco 7206 VXR Series Router, providing a highly cost-effective solution.

The 128 channels of the MIX-enabled port adapter can be allocated among fractional T1/E1 links, N x DS0 (N x 64K) links, or ISDN Primary Rate Interface (PRI) links. For each N x DS0 (N x 64K) connection, a single channel is consumed and multiple N x DS0 connections can be supported on a single T1 or E1. Each T1 or E1 used as ISDN PRI consumes either 24 or 31 channels, respectively, one for each B channel and one for the D channel. A total of 30 ISDN PRIs can be supported on a Cisco 7206 VXR series router on a T1 link, and 24 ISDN PRIs can be supported on an E1 link.

Universal portsTwo, four, or eight interface ports per port adapter are configurable as either T1 (with integrated CSU/DSU) or E1 (with an integrated G.703/G.704 120-ohm interface). Additionally, a port may be configured on a per-DS0 basis for voice termination, TDM pass-through (cross-connect), or data.

MIX supportVoice channels can be TDM switched between port-adapter slots in the Cisco 7200 VXR chassis. This allows DSP resources to be shared between port adapters in the same chassis or for port-to-port DS0 crossconnect between port-adapter slots.

DS0 "drop and insert"Flexible TDM cross-connect capability between ports and the MIX bus is available.

Multiple clocking optionsPorts can be clocked internally from the network, or the network clock from one port can be sent to the other port on the card or to other cards across the MIX bus in the Cisco 7200 VXR chassis.

The following enhanced voice features are supported when the MIX-enabled T1/E1 port adapters are used in combination with the enhanced digital voice port adapter (PA-VXC-2TE1+, PA-VXB-2TE1+):

Voice-over-IP (VoIP) and Voice-over-Frame Relay (VoFR) termination

Full-featured DSP firmware

Support for several standard-compression algorithms (G.711, G.729a/ab, G.723.1, G.726, G.728)